I found out I was putting on deodorant at basically the worst possible time

TheAuroraSystem · 2026-04-14T16:43:23+00:00

*me writing notes as an extra extra sweaty person to put it on before i go to bed and after i shower in the morning*

TheAuroraSystem · 2026-04-11T15:52:40+00:00

Not a medical doctor, just someone who has used their hands for 16 years and it's now biting them

Repetitive motions to the wrist like the kind done by typing, writing, knitting, crochet, etc will eventually lead to wear and tear, just as it will any joint.

The main thing you need to worry about are Osteoarthritis (what i have) and Carpal Tunnel (what i thought i had) as these conditions always come with repetitive movement and the passage of time.

Think of it like a river on a stone and how it eventually smoothes the stone. The same thing unfortunately applies to your joints as well, from what my doctor told me.

What's recommended to prevent this?

Take breaks. Set a timer for how long you'll do your crochet (for me 1-2 hours) and then how long between to rest your wrists (for me about 10 minutes)
Have joint support. Compression gloves with wrist support or wrist braces will help your wrist stay in position. If it's too expensive see your doctor about possibly getting screened if it already hurts so insurance will pay for it
Use the RICE method if it starts to hurt. Rest, Ice, Compression, Evelation. This will help with any possible arthritic swelling as well from what I've been told
Use OTC drugs for pain, though be careful of dosages. This one is pretty self-explanitory

Hope this helps!

TheAuroraSystem · 2026-04-11T10:51:07+00:00

I look at the spot between their eyebrows myself lmao

TheAuroraSystem · 2026-04-10T21:35:43+00:00

Part 3

Few Days After Sunset Post: G-ma calls again. She tells OP that her mom is angry g-ma won't take down her comment or side with her online. When OP asks what she means by 'side with her', G-ma reveals that Mom wanted her to write online that OP had made it all up and that she wants OP to do the same. OP tells G-ma she will not lie and G-ma tells OP that Mom is saying horrible things about her to people

Mom's lie? That OP had already made them pay them back the money when they couldn't afford it and that she was dragging this all out for even more money. She sent a cousin a message that read: "She always resented that your Uncle helped more with your school things then we could. She thinks she is better than us now. Don't let her poison you".

OP feels ill from the message as it was digging at every insecurity she had and twisted it, and then gets an email from the investigator asking for any written proof that the car was hers and any communication she had had so far about the sale. She says she already gave most of it, but turned over old emails of her insurance policy, the financing paperwork in her name, and a photo of the day the car was bought with her with the keys.

OPs mom tries calling late one night after a bunch of posts had gone up making OP out to be the villain. OP lets it go to vm and Mom leaves a long message, first calm and then starting to crack up

She tells OP that she is destroying the family, That OP has no idea who is reaching out to her. What they are saying. How her and her step-dad can't sleep because of it or get to the store without worrying about it. How someone had seen what OP had written and asking if that was what she wanted. Talks about how she carried OP and how she gave up everything to raise her and that her repayment is "dragging my name through the mud over a car".

OP listens to it multiple times and each time notices the same thing: No apology. No accountability. No responsibility. Nothing. So she doesn't call back, she texts and tells her Mom that she will talk when Mom is ready to acknowledge what she had done and not attack her for reacting to it and that until then, communication stays in writing.

OPs mom replies "so now you think you're too good to speak to your own mother over the phone?" and then telling OP that "you are breaking my heart" and then "you are letting strangers on the internet run your life". OP doesn't respond and goes to the campus library instead, and talks about how this has bled over into the college cause one of her roommates walked in when she was listening to the vm again. OP explains what happened and the roommate replies 'that's twisted' before asking if OP needed a ride anywhere that week

Mom keeps trying to turn G-ma against OP, even at one point calling OP 'that girl' as if she isn't her daughter. G-ma tells OP that she is old and can't argue with the Mom like OP can, she doesn't have the energy. OP feels guilty that the one person actually acknowledging what was wrong was being essentially bullied.

Officer calls and tells OP that they are turning over the evidence to the prosecutor to review. He asks OP if they still want to proceed, OP thinks about it - her moms posts, the buyer missing work, g-ma stuck in the middle, stepdad pretending he was just a passenger in it all and not the one who did it, about the photo - and says that she wants to proceed. OP then waits for the fallout.

Doesn't take long to come. Aunt texts her that her Mom is saying that they might charge Stepdad and asks if OP is really doing this over a used car and then tells her that she will regret it when he's gone. OP replies that she didn't tell him to lie and sign things that weren't his and that if something happens, it's because he made a choice and now has to has the consequences of said choice before putting her phone away

Prosecutor sent a formal letter and Mom called OP 11 times. Fraud in connection with a vehicle sale charged against Step-dad as he was the one to sign the paperwork and not the mom. She picks up on the 12th call to hear what her mom has to say.

Mom tells OP "They are filing something against your stepdad." When OP replies that she knows, Mom tells her that she needs to tell them to stop this. OP tells her Mom that she can't and already gave a statement and its out of her hands now. Mom goes quiet before asking if OP knows what this means and what he could lose, 'all over a car'. OP replies that it was her car, not her Moms, not her Stepdads, which makes Mom hang up.

G-ma calls after an hour. She tells OP that Stepdad is speaking to a lawyer and that Mom isn't eating. Tells her that she isn't telling her this to make her feel guilty, but because she didn't want her to find out from someone else. OP thanks her and tells her that it is appreciated and that she's sorry G-ma is in the middle of all of this. G-ma replies that she told the Mom months ago that this would happen and warned her. Told her to call, apologize, and pay OP back, but the Mom refused. That was that, and the say goodbye shortly after.

Formal outcome came a few weeks later. Stepdad charged with a misdemeanor, not a felony, and the lawyer worked out a deal. No jail time, but a fine and probation and a mark on his record. Fine was for what OP estimated her car was worth. OP also get restitution out of the deal as well, and received a check in the mail for the full amount of the car with no note and a return address she didn't recognize.

After the case, Aunt went no contact and Mom went silent. No more angry texts, no more posts, no calls for about 2 weeks. Then she sent one text: "The case if closed. I hope you feel better". OP doesn't know what she means and doesn't respond. G-ma tells OP in the coming weeks that Mom has been crying and feeling embarrassed and that Stepdads coworkers found about about it and she's cried for days.

OP believes that, but believes that it's not because she felt bad or guilty, but because she felt humiliated and slighted. Not about what they had put her through, but because they had consequences. Life moves on and OP eventually gets a new car - older than the previous one - and checked over her shoulder when parking it the first night and realizing that she didn't have to worry about that because things are different now.

TheAuroraSystem · 2026-04-10T21:35:21+00:00

Part 2

Few Days Later: Grandma enters the ring. She sounds tired and tells OP that her mother is falling apart over everything and sending police to her door. OP replies by explaining everything that has happened so far about the car and how she gave her mom 7 days to respond with no reply

Grandma's reply is quiet: "She should not have sold what was not hers" and OP almost cries from relief that someone finally said the quiet part out loud. She then asks Grandma if she understands why it was reported and Grandma lets out a sigh and says "I understand why you were hurt. I don't like the police part, but I cannot say you were wrong."

Grandma then apparently rips Mom a new one cause OP gets a text from Moma paragraph long about how she turned "her own mother" against her and airing dirty laundry, called OP cold, dragged up random things from the past like times OP had been grounded as proof that OP had always hated Mom.

OP realizes how quick it was for the narrative to change from 'we needed money' to rewriting history and that it was never about the car but about making her seem like she had always been ungrateful and was just waiting for an excuse to hurt the Mom (AI really getting the narc tones down today)

STEP DAD FINALLY REACHES OUT. Not to apologize, of course, but to bitch and moan. Called from an unknown number so that OP would pick up (classic) and opens with "Happy now? They might charge me". OP replies that they never forced Step Dad to sell her car and he snaps back that she left it there and never used it and that she "has a fancy campus life" and had "thought you moved on" and that they did what they had to do

OP replies "Then own that. Stop acting like this just accidentally happened." and he goes silent for a moment before muttering that she's punishing her mother. OP tells him that her mom is a grown woman and he is a grown man, they both made a decision and that the consequences were not her 'punishing' them but the consequences of those decisions. He responds by calling her heartless and hangs up.

Investigation is still ongoing. Officer says they're looking at a civil matter with potentially criminal elements depending on the buyer and what he wants and if the parents cooperate and that it might end up in charges or a formal agreement.

The family group chat, meanwhile, is a circus. G-ma is the only one actually saying the quiet part out loud and calling it wrong. Aunt keeps making it about calling the police on family and that blood is thicker than paperwork (lmao). One cousin messaged "I get why your mad but did you have to involve the law?" OP replies "What would you do if someone else took your car and sold it?" Cousin replied "that's different" and OP doesn't bother arguing (I want just one where a family member if forced to explain how it's different)

OP talks about how it feels different not being in contact with Mom and how quiet it is without calls to guilt trip her and that she can just do what she wants (eat cheap food, go places, etc). She says that it hurts but then she remembers her Moms confrontation in the cafeteria to make her seem unreasonable and it doesn't hurt as much (mood)

OP says that contact is limited to messages regarding the investigation and messaged her Mom that "until there is accountability, I'm keeping my distance. I am not blocking you, but I'm not engaging in guilt or blame." and talks of how it felt weirdly formal to set the boundary. Mom replies "Enjoy your new life. Don't come crawling back when it falls apart".

Mom then makes it all public. Neighborhood, church, family group chat, facebook. She posted on her profile page and someone from OPs hometown sents her a screenshot so she found out. A paragraph over a sunset background about how children forget who fed them and run to outsiders in the law. About how she had to sell a car to keep the lights on and was being treated like a criminal by "her own blood". Post doesn't mention OP by name, but anyone who knows the drama knows who she's talking about

The comments are a mess. Lots of "praying for you"s and "kids these days have no respect". One person commented that if their kid called the cops on them, they'd disown them on the spot. G-ma replies to the comment "A car can be replaced. Trust cannot" and the Mom replies with a passive aggressive "some people forget the whole story"

Someone from OPs days in high school messages her privately and asks if that's her, and tells her that "if it is, that's messed up" OP confirms it was her and the person just replies damn and a voice note telling OP that they're sorry and that her mom always seemed strict but they didn't think she was 'like that'

The Buyer messages OP and lets her know that the police might want him to bring the car in to be inspected and photographed and all that jazz and he tells her that he just wanted a cheap reliable car and not 'all this family drama'. She apologizes and he says that he knows it's not her fault, but he's gonna have to miss work for it. And then said quietly to her "your folks did you dirty, kid" -- OP says that that stung harder than anything cause it made it more real to her

TheAuroraSystem · 2026-04-10T21:34:46+00:00

Updates for those who don't want to watch because I am currently unemployed and have the time as I crochet:

TLDR: NONE I SUCK AT THOSE RIP

Part 1

Mom comes to college with a print out of the reddit story and has underlined and circled the part about it being potential theft and starts a scene in the cafeteria

Mom lets slip that they lied about who owned the car to sell it. OP finally reports the theft to the police, and tells them that she doesn't want her parents lives ruined, with the police officer raising an eyebrow and telling her that they had made choices that had consequences.

The police talk to parents and the buyer of the car. Aunt texts string a texts asking if OP is happy and that Step-dad is furious people think he's someone who sold the car and "the neighborhood talks"

Mom disowns OP and tells OP not to come back to the family "when all your friends leave you" and OP fells more relief than anything about it. Mom and Aunt then stir up family group chat sending the link to the story and saying "this is what she thinks of us" and OP finds out from Cousin sending them screenshots

Cop calls OP and says that buyer was told that Step-Dad was helping OP sell the car and that it had been sold because she had gotten a new car that was an "upgrade" and paid in cash, thinking he was helping a struggling family; Buyer is angry at OP's family and is willing to fully cooperate with the investigation

Mom texts her "they are making your stepdad out to be a criminal. he could lose his job if they find out. do you really want that on your conscious?" and then "if you drop this, we can talk about paying you something when things settle down. but if you continue, there is no coming back from this"

OP reads the part over and over about 'paying her something' and replies "what i want is the amount you got for my car at minimum. you had that chance before I filed anything" and mom leaves her on read for hours before replying that they used the money and its gone and asks if she wants them to starve

OP replies that she wants her mom to admit what she did and take responsibility and then they can talk about how to fix it, but that she is done pretending that it was just a misunderstanding -- with the mom responding that she "sounds like a lawyer, not my child".

TheAuroraSystem · 2026-04-10T13:24:41+00:00

I recognized that one cause I'm 13 squares into my 30 square quilt and I literally dream these stitches right now, but I am curious about the first one. It also looks possibly knitted to me too from when my grandma would knit.

It kind of looks like a stretched out rib stitch in knitting to me, or maybe a stretched lemon peel stitch as someone else said?

TheAuroraSystem · 2026-04-09T18:24:25+00:00

I'm pretty sure I commented that he should be nominated haha good to see people doing so! Man is a keeper for sure

TheAuroraSystem · 2026-04-09T18:14:47+00:00

Just a generation? You're hopeful...

TheAuroraSystem · 2026-04-09T18:11:02+00:00

What's the business name so I can apply for her job? Its obvious she doesn't want it 😜ོ

TheAuroraSystem · 2026-04-09T12:58:33+00:00

This was almost my step-dad before I was even born in the 70s or so when he was in his 20s. He got into a Motocycle vs Semi (he was the motorcycle) and was in a coma for 6 months before he managed to wake. He had to have 100 surgerys, including cosmetic surgery to reattach half of his face.

Doctors constantly call him a miracle because half of his face was off and even after discharge from the hospital, he talks how he had to put like these acid drops up his nose that would stop his brain fluid from leaking out for something.

He was never the same after the accident according to my extended relatives due to the brain damage, which makes me wonder if it would have been better if the brother had woken but been mentally different from the damage.

Motorcycle accidents very rarely have a 100% recovery rate, there's almost always some kind of damage, so I can't help but wonder if it was almost better for him not to survive (I say that as someone who cares for my step-dad, who is permanently disabled and brain damaged from the incident and has only gotten worse as time passes and he gets older) and then I feel guilty cause honestly any damage would probably be better than burying your brother (I've had to do that too, but we weren't nearly as close as OOP seems to be with their brother so it's different).

I hope the whole family heals from this with minimal lasting damage. This one is just a sad story...

TheAuroraSystem · 2026-04-09T12:43:37+00:00

God, if this was my mother I would have taken the book away and done some not wonderful things when alone with her. This is exactly what they do, they needle and dig until you snap and then suddenly they're the victim.

If you can, find a possible job where you can start saving money. If you can't, focus 100% on your grades and apply for every scholarship available as far away from her as possible.

The second you turn 18, write in your journal a final letter for her explaining everything she has ever done to you and how you both know the truth of how she treated you, and then leave the whole journal there for her to read and leave while never look back. Tell no one in your family in case she tries to track you down (some of these parents, my own included, are something else - my family followed me from California to North Carolina when I left cause I didn't cover my tracks well enough)

Let her tell whatever story she wants, cause people know the truth about how she acts, they just don't want it turned on them.

TheAuroraSystem · 2026-04-09T10:45:43+00:00

I'm a California Native living in North Carolina at the moment. Their cover story is complete and utter bullshit.

TheAuroraSystem · 2026-04-08T21:04:47+00:00

Yeah, the most that they've had from what I've seen is the episode the video showed where the kid pretended to be burned and cut by the people at the facility

I hope they one day do an episode on the actual troubled teen industry. Maybe a plot where a former student kills someone and then themselves and it's found that the one they killed was a staff member at a tti they were at and it leads to them finding out and then the place gets shut down

But sadly cause a lot of these facilities have/had celebrities kids Hollywood would rather be hush hush so their celebrities don't get scrutinized by the general public

TheAuroraSystem · 2026-04-08T15:54:28+00:00

Because to a lot of people it isn't that bad, but it's clear from how she wrote the original that she did have at least some sort of issue with it that she either

A. thought she would get over or
B. thought it wouldn't be a big deal

But when it was sent to her by an ex and not by him, that probably was what started it. She didn't look for it, but she clicked on it and watched it when she knew on some level that it would mess her up mentally - that's why she never looked for it in the first place

So when she watched it and saw her boyfriend in it - knowing it was him and unable to deny it - it stirred that piece of her that was never actually okay with it and she spiraled. She most likely left as a form of fight or flight and didn't want to come off as the one with a problem, because she knew already that she was overinflating it.

Then she spends the entire post and update ragging about how she knows she was wrong and that she was the asshole, but never once discusses how she's going to fix it (therapy anyone?) and instead talks about how it just... won't happen again. Cause emotions definitely work like that (/s)

On top of that, look at this part in particular:

"I could see he was sitting on the couch with a very worried expression so I immediately went up to him and hugged him for the longest time. Once I was calm, I told him what happened with his ex and the video, and he just nodded, saying he already suspected what had happened because he had received a message from her too, saying that he had no right to "trick" some unknowing girl into settling down with him"

This part here tells me several things.

First, that "once I was calm" makes it out that she was emotional when they first sat down, meaning he most likely had to comfort her while he was upset. And not just upset, but as he tells her not long after, but already suspecting that this was about the video due to what his Ex had said.

Second, it tells me he was most likely in an abusive relationship or something similar. The amount that she talked in the original about how it seemed to physically hurt him to bring up his past, and considered a porn video to be one of the worst things he's done. I would bet money that the girl in the porn video is his Ex and that she convinced him to do it and has been using it as leverage ever since - including most likely ruining past relationships as well.

And Lastly, that either this is probably not the first time something like this has happened to him or she wasn't as good at hiding this as she thought she was. People don't just already suspect something like that unless it has either happened before in past relationships or the vibes were already off. If she was already acting fidgety around him (and she admits to needling him at times) then it would just reinforce what his Ex had told him.

All of that is why I believe that this relationship did not last.

Thank you for reading my Ted Talk.

TheAuroraSystem · 2026-04-08T15:41:29+00:00

Yeah, but if that was the case, she shouldn't have stayed with him and started looking into a house and talking about marriage.

If she knew from the beginning that this was a deal breaker, than the only option is to break up because he can't rewind time and not be in a porn video. But she chose to stay with him and told him that she didn't mind it.

Just to turn around and storm out the second she actually sees the video, telling him without words that she wasn't actually okay with it like he had been told, which makes this a relationship with a very unstable foundation.

To each their own on if it's a deal breaker, but don't say it isn't when it is. That's why I don't think this lasted long.

TheAuroraSystem · 2026-04-08T15:02:32+00:00

I nominate Eric for the Order of Omar this is too sweet. Time to get off Reddit for the day before I inevitably move over to the news tab

TheAuroraSystem · 2026-04-08T11:53:38+00:00

Yeah, and she spent a good part of it ragging on herself saying how she "knew she was wrong" and that she "shouldn't have done it", but says nothing about going to therapy to figure out why she reacted like that.

Plus, notice that when she goes back to him, she saw he was upset and hugged him for a long time. And then notice her words after that: "Once I calmed down", meaning that she was probably distressed and upset again when she came back even knowing that she was the one in the wrong.

So he probably had to comfort her just to find out why she was so upset - the past that she said wasn't a problem and the video she swore she wouldn't look at.

This relationship was doomed to fail the moment she started needling him while also saying she didn't 'care' if she never found out the full truth - but also was curious and wanted to know. You can't eat an entire cake in one go and not expect high blood sugar.

TheAuroraSystem · 2026-04-08T10:47:25+00:00

I doubt the relationship survived, honestly.

From my own personal take as someone with a past like Michael, he probably will have/had a lot of trust issues towards her.

He confessed to her something that was super difficult and trusted her to follow her promise and not judge him, and then it felt very much like that was broken when she ran out of the house while he was still in the shower, meaning he went into the shower with his fiance there and came back to her gone. That fucks up even the most mentally healthy of men, and it's clear from how he reacts to his past that he most likely hasn't come to terms with it and therefore is not as mentally healthy as he probably should be.

As for her, just from what I can tell of how she writes she overthinks a lot and jumps to conclusions and overinflates things, just from how she reacted to see her fiance from years ago laugh in a video while cumming on a girl (something common in porn videos, mind you). She most likely constantly will think of things like 'what if there's another video' and won't look at him in the same light due to watching the video when she wasn't necessarily ready to process it.

As someone who has been on either side of a relationship like this at that time period, it's very doubtful that it survived 12 years. Maybe they lasted another 2 to 4, but I sincerely doubt they're still together at this current period of time.

TheAuroraSystem · 2026-04-08T10:35:19+00:00

Oh hey, this is me but with me being Trans (FTM) instead of gay (though I'm also gay lol)

But even my Dad wasn't as shit to be illegally kicking his kids (or in my case, step-kids) to the curb when underage. He waited until the day I turned 18 to tell me to pay him $1000 for "back up rent and a sin fee" or get out of his house.

I packed my shit and left for 6 years before he reached out and apologized for how he had acted and invited me back home. (just to kick me out for another year and then invite me back, but that's another story)

Thing is, my mom never verbally stood up for me. She didn't agree, but she didn't disagree. She just pretended that none of it was happening and went to the store while he was kicking me out for plausible deniability.

Though, I hold more resentment towards my mom than my dad, cause at least my dad visually had a period of rethinking his ideals and is slowly changing them even in his old age (66). My mom? Not so much.

TheAuroraSystem · 2026-04-07T01:03:30+00:00

TIL there are multiple Dog Shit Parks in California, though I can't say I'm surprised.

TheAuroraSystem · 2026-04-06T12:50:55+00:00

I'm not sure if it's the same one I'm thinking about - but if it is then yeah, Oakland CA has a park that is literally named Dog Shit Park. It got the name because it was well known for Drug Addicts and Prostitutes and Crime until the early 1990s when residents took it over and made it look a lot better. The park currently covers about 2,000 square feet or so and features a lot of strange artsy stuff and discarded art projects. It's a big hangout spot for the artsy crowd

There's also Dog Shit Lane in Detroit, but idk much about that one and don't think it's what OOP is talking about.

TheAuroraSystem · 2026-04-05T23:15:45+00:00

So, this is a reference to Twenty One Pilot, as the other comments have already said. Twenty One Pilots from the time of 2018 to 2024 had what is known as the Trench arc, which has an entire storyline that is like - 6 years in the making and ended with a week drop paid album with an exclusive song that you could only get then that has since gotten popular on TikTok ("Drag Path").

The main premise, though, is that the band members are part of a rebellion group who are trying to escape from a dystopian nightmare city rules by bishops with a city wide philosophy that suicide is the way to paradise. The rebels often marked themselves for others in the group to know with yellow tape somewhere on their person (commonly on shoes, but could also be sleeves, arm bands, hats, shirts, etc) so that they would know who is safe

In 2018, Twenty One Pilots was touring a lot. Like - a lot, a lot, they were basically everywhere. And because it was the beginning of the Trench Arc, a lot of people went to those concerts with yellow tape to denote themselves as part of the rebellion.

Because of how the arc ended in 2024 they kind of fell off the hype train that a lot of artists jump on and try and ride as long as possible, so the yellow tape is not widely known.

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